Phil Brown left Hull City's travails behind and took his wife away to ­Portugal for a few days last week. After a slightly harsh defeat which plunges his stuttering side into deep relegation waters, he must wish he had stayed on the Algarve.

Unfortunately, Brown returned to England in time to do an interview ­during which he, albeit mildly, criticised Sunderland's players for underachievement and mentioned how highly priced many of them were. It appeared under the somewhat topspun headline "Black Cats are a Spent Force" and Ricky ­Sbragia was furious when, at 11.45am yesterday morning, he spotted it. Sensing an opportunity, though, Sunderland's manager swiftly had copies of the Hull manager's comments photocopied, pinned up and distributed in the dressing room for digestion by his players.

It proved a minor masterstroke, as this was one of the Wearsiders' more spirited performances in recent weeks. Djibril Cissé, one of those mentioned by Brown, was especially annoyed and unusually committed. Moreover, he proceeded to score the winning goal.

"Cissé's goal was offside," said Brown, with some justification as it had been a marginal decision. "We deserved to get something from this game. We were a bit short in terms of quality at times, but it was a committed performance and there's a massive difference between the two clubs in terms of finances."

Asked if he regretted emphasising this to reporters before kick-off, a slightly bemused-looking Hull manager inquired: "Am I on a different planet to everyone else? I haven't even read the article. And I'm not responsible for the headlines."

While his Hull counterpart sunned himself, Sbragia – who, in a past life succeeded Brown as Sam Allardyce's assistant at Bolton – did not stray far from his club's training base last week and such dedication to duty was rewarded as the home side arrested a run of four straight defeats. This was their first win in eight games and assuaged growing fears that the Stadium of Light will be hosting Championship football next season.

"It was a game we had to win. For once, we can have a nice weekend," said Sbragia, who was still steaming about Brown's "disrespect" after the final whistle. "I'm angry with Phil," he reiterated after seeing "justice" done thanks to outstanding central-defensive performances from Calum Davenport and Anton Ferdinand. The pair did superbly to repel a barrage of balls into the area delivered by Brown's desperate side who, despite conjuring precious little from open play, won a series of set pieces and constantly menaced from such dead balls.

Andy Reid's left foot remains a potent weapon for Sunderland. As half-time beckoned and the stalemate seemed set to endure, the erstwhile Ireland midfielder whipped in a cross from the left, Danny Collins flicked it on and Cissé headed it into the bottom corner of the hitherto underemployed Boaz Myhill's goal.

Hull did have a dubious penalty claim when Craig Fagan whisked the ball off Davenport's toecaps and subsequently fell over the defender's outstretched leg, but, much to Brown's chagrin, Mike Dean was having none of it.

Born up the coast in South Shields, Brown – a boyhood Sunderland fan – spent much of the afternoon berating the fourth official, prompting one anxious local to bellow: "You're a disgrace to South Shields. You're not a Shields man, you're a tit." Even so, Hull might have drawn level early in the second period had George Boateng's dangerous half-volley not swerved narrowly the wrong side of a post. Sunderland, though, were improving and in a race of the slow coaches Reid out-paced Boateng before chipping narrowly off target.

There was still time for Hull substitute Bernard Mendy to escape a red card after raising his hands and shoving Kieran Richardson. And for Reid to say something extremely rude to Brown at the final whistle. Brown really should have remained in Portugal.